


One By One (Only The Good Die Young)

by sage0cotton



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Cheating, Drugs, Fluff, M/M, Self-Harm, Smut, drug overdose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-09-29 14:36:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17205218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sage0cotton/pseuds/sage0cotton
Summary: Ben and Joe get to know each other on the way to school.





	1. Same shit, different day.

Keeping a hard stare on the carpeted floor, Joe speed walked down the hall to his next class hoping to god he wouldn’t get spoken to by anyone. He could hear the carpet shuffling getting closer to him and tried walking faster until he was swung around by a hand on his shoulder. Sighing, he looked up to see his favorite person (sarcasm) and braced himself for a jab to the chest or a hit to the cheek. To be completely honest, he was hoping to be punched. Same shit every day for 4 months now, he was already sick of the same schedule of school. He wanted to feel something that would maybe put him out of the emotionless state he’s been in for the past 2 months or so. “Come on Matt. Hit me. Let’s get this over with.” he said quietly. 

“Glad to, pretty boy.” his bully said with a laugh. Taking a hard right hook to his cheekbone, he winced with the pain exploding in his face and headed down the stairs and out the back door facing the track. Pushing the door open with his shoulder and trying not to slip on the ice covered steps, he trudged on the sidewalk out to his alley he touched his cheek lightly. Matt must’ve been wearing a ring or something today since he saw blood on his middle and forefinger.

Joe took a seat against a giant dumpster and pulled out his Camel Blues, fishing his pockets for a lighter. Not feeling his trusty red, he swore under his breath and started searching in his backpack for it as he heard sneakers on gravel. Crouched down and rummaging his bag for this damn lighter (or at least a pack of matches) he looked up to see the English exchange kid offering him one. Joe slowly stood up and took the lighter from him. A small “Thanks” escaped his mouth and replaced his words with a cigarette. Lighting it and looking over at the blonde across from him he handed it back, eyeing his demeanor as well. 

“What’s up with your face, mate?” the kid said in his surprisingly deep voice. Joe replied with something along the lines of ‘Don’t worry about it’ and looked towards the street. “I don’t think I know your name, I’m Ben.” 

Staring at him for a moment, he answered, “Joe.” Ben nodded and pulled out an already loaded pipe wrapped in what he would assume his gym socks. Joe stepped back and gave the other a look of confusion and disgust. 

“Don’t freak out, it’s just weed.” The blonde said while lighting it then inhaling. “You ever tried it? It’ll probably make the pain in your cheek go away.” exhaling, he offered the pipe to Joe who was hesitant. He's only ever had cigarettes before and barely even alcohol, but his face did really fucking hurt. He's always been taught that hard drugs were bad, but then again it's legal in 11 states. Taking another moment to think he took it and inhaled deeply not knowing to cover the carb. Ben reached over and took care of it for him, Joe took it away from his mouth breathing in the smoke then coughing like he never had before. He didn't expect for it to burn his throat as bad as it did, but soon felt a wave of relaxation wash over him like a warm shower. Ben smiled at him, Joe smiling back.


	2. New Mates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Joe get to know each other on the way to school.

Alarm beeping in his ear Joe jolted awake, sitting up in his bed and trying to convince himself to get up. Streetlight beams leaked into his bedroom as he felt a chill run up his legs, telling him to bundle up for today. He grabbed a clean looking t-shirt and pulled it over the long sleeve he already had on, looking for jeans in his laundry covered room finally finding a pair underneath an old sweatshirt. He stepped closer to the mirror and fixed his hair from the bedhead mess that it is. Starting to search for a pair of socks that didn’t reek like hell Joe whipped his head around to check the time on his alarm clock reading 8:37 AM. Fuck. The bus leaves at 8:45 and he still needs to eat something, so he pulled on his worn sneakers and grabbed a heavy jacket, heading down the stairs of his small home.

Swiftly brushing his teeth and fixing his bed head he went to search in the kitchen for something that could work as breakfast, finding a granola bar and slinging on his backpack before heading out the door. The wind chill slapped him in the face as he power-walked to the bus stop through frost-covered grass and waited for the city bus to arrive. When it finally got to its stop he stepped on and showed the driver his school ID, the chatter and talkative teenagers seeming extra loud this morning as Joe searched for a free seat, seeing one across the aisle from the kid he met yesterday (shit, what was his name?).

“Morning mate,” the guy said with a smile. Joe saw that his lips were a really pretty color of dark magenta, it reminded him of a flower or something. _‘Why am I paying so close attention to lips all of a sudden? Minds are weird’_ Joe thought to himself. “What’s going on?”

“Wha-? Oh, nothing. Uh, what’s new with you man?” Joe said, setting his backpack down on the floor. He also noticed how the kid was built, he was skinny yet had a bit of muscle to him, Joe couldn't really describe it. Kinda lean..but with more meat on the bones, his thighs were thick though. He liked the way his thighs looked in his jeans sitting on the bus seat. _‘Thighs now? What the fuck is with your brain today?’_

“I’m pretty good, just wish I didn’t have to take the fucking bus to school,” He said with a short chuckle. Joe smiled with his small laugh and shifted him and his backpack over to the guy’s seat with him (dammit, what the hell was his name??).

“Whenever I get bored I draw on the foggy windows,” Joe said, reaching over the blond to draw some sort of animal that looked like a cross between a frog and a duck. “I like drawing these weird abomination creatures,” he said as he let out something like a giggle.

“Huh, I’ve never thought of doing that before.” The kid said.

“What?? Do they not draw on the windows in England?” Joe said, looking at him with sincere confusion.

“Yeah, I mean, not really,” Ben laughed along with him. The whole rest of the bus ride they talked about random stuff, exchanging facts about themselves and telling each other about their own interests and hobbies. They arrived at the bus stop close to their school and talked all the way to class, too, about what music they liked, what TV shows, what video games, everything. “Hey, what are your plans for tomorrow?” the blond guy asked.

Realizing it was Friday, he said “No, not really,” because there were none, Joe didn’t really ever talk to anyone. “You wanna hang out? I have all of The Beatles CD’s and we can just relax or do whatever.” Joe thought about it, it gave him a strange feeling of excitement thinking about just talking all day with this kid. “Yeah, sure! I need your number though, to like, let you know when I’m coming over or something.” Joe said. The boy agreed and wrote his phone number on a random slip of paper and handed it to him. They waved goodbye and walked to their classes, Joe looking forward to tomorrow.

 

Ben! That’s his fucking name!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sweaR chapter 3 is coming soon!! school is a bitch and has made me hella busy I'm sorry TT_TT


	3. Playdate!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe comes over to Ben's house to hang out for the day, and figures out he might not just like girls.

Joe woke up Saturday morning with a smile, he was going to go over to his new friends’ house! He knew it sounded really stupid, and he hated to admit it but he couldn't really remember the last time he hung out with someone. But today he was going to go over to Ben's house to have fun and do whatever they wanted in the world, this was probably the most excited he's been since he was a little kid...

 

Getting dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and a zip-up hoodie he practically flew down the stairs to ask his mom to go to his friend's house. She said yes, Joe bolting to the phone to dial Ben's number. He almost bounced up and down as it rung, waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to pick up.

 

_ “Hello? This is the Jones house.”  _ Ben said over the line.

 

Smiling, Joe replied “Hi Ben! It's Joe, I um, was just gonna ask your address so I could come over.” hoping it wasn't horribly far.

 

_ “Oh, Joe! Hi, there mate, yeah, it's XXXX north Xxxxx avenue. Also, uh I'm going to be in the shower for a bit so you might need to knock a little bit louder, but see you in a moment, yeah?” _ he asked. 

 

He wrote down the address on the top of his hand with a sharpie and said “Yeah man, see you then!” they hung up and Joe headed out the door. Just his luck Ben's house was only a few blocks or so away, so he gladly walked with a skip in his step towards the abode. 

 

.

 

Arriving at the doorstep, he followed his directions and knocked louder than he usually would, door opening almost immediately after. The door swung open to present Joe with a towel wrapped around Ben’s waist and water dripping from his hair and chest. It was almost hypnotizing him, he just couldn't tear his eyes from this sight in front of him, beads of water trickling down his abs to his belly button. 

 

“Hey, Joe! Sorry about this, I just got out of the shower,” Ben said with a short laugh and motioning towards his towel. “Come in mate!” ‘ _ Mate, right, it was just his friend..why did you care he just got out of the damn shower?’ _ He followed the blonde boy suit into his house, glancing at the artworks and furniture as he tried to not keep his eyes glued to the sculpted back muscles in front of him. 

 

“Your house is um..pretty cool man.,” Joe said to break the silence.  _ Jesus, you're practically drooling right now! Quit fucking staring at him!  _

 

Ben let out a laugh, leading Joe up the stairs to his room “Yeah it's pretty alright I guess, so much bigger than the house in Bournemouth, ‘s’where I’m from” he said, shrugging.

 

“Oh, cool! Isn’t that by a nice beach or something?” Joe replied, trailing into the bedroom with his friend. Looking around, he saw a lot of soccer posters and jerseys, he had a feeling that Ben was one of those soccer lads or something. 

 

“Yeah, it’s boring there though. My parents like boring little towns I suppose,” Ben laughed. Joe looked around the room some more as Ben searched through his dresser for clothes. “Oh, and if you don’t mind, I’m gonna change.” 

 

“Uh, no I don’t care man. “ Joe sort-of mumbled, taking a seat in his desk chair. Not realizing the situation, Ben dropped his towel and pulled a pair of gym shorts on. Joe’s face turned rosy and swung the chair around so he couldn’t see.  _ ‘You’re blushing?? Are you for real?’  _ ‘I don’t know! I go into the bathroom to change for P.E. usually, I’m not used to this’ he said to his inner voice. He kept replaying the glimpse of Ben’s ass he saw in his head over and over again. ‘It’s just...really nice to look at, it’s not weird or anything. I’m not checking him out (am I?).’ 

 

“Awe, shit, I got French homework to do..do you take it?” Ben said, putting a tattered t-shirt on and turning around. 

 

“U-um, yeah, I’m in French 2, what do you gotta do?” Joe responded quietly. 

 

“This dumb packet thing, here,” Ben reached over Joe on the desk to pull it out of his binder, Joe’s heartbeat quickening. He looked up to see the blond’s sharp jawline and tapered haircut, it felt like a balloon was filling up his chest. Ben looked at him, melty green eyes captivating his entire universe, he couldn’t figure out how to get air back into his lungs at the moment. The boy above him flashed a smile and caught the bottom lip between his teeth. “Why are you looking at me like that, mate?” he said with a snicker. 

 

Joe couldn’t find his words, mumbling something along the lines of “I-I dunno..” Ben laughed, flipping to the page in his homework he was having trouble with. The ginger kid felt like he was in for a very long day at Ben’s house. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is finally here! Again, I'm sorry it's so late (I guess that's the right word ?), school sucks.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy ! <3 dm me on Twitter if you have suggestions for the story/criticism @xctionthisdxy


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